


To Make Your Soul Grow

by Lokei



Category: Stargate (1994), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, Memories, Murals, Storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 20:58:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokei/pseuds/Lokei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Skaara’s friends find Sha’re beginning to paint the story of the rebellion on the walls of the temple, they start yelling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Make Your Soul Grow

**Author's Note:**

> Originally prompted during the 2013 SG1 Friendathon
> 
> Prompt: 67. Daniel and the teens from Abydos: They discuss the prospects of murals and art.

_“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.  So do it.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut_

When Skaara’s friends find Sha’re beginning to paint the story of the rebellion on the walls of the temple, they start yelling.

It only takes a moment for Daniel, habitually oblivious but in these last two weeks keenly attuned to his new wife and even more to the sounds of conflict, to come running.  It’s not Sha’re who needs his defense, though--she has already cuffed them all around the ears, flushed with her new authority as a married woman and key hero of the resistance.  She’s back to painting already, even.  So it is four whimpering, sullen teenage boys and a reluctantly admiring Skaara that Daniel finds nearby--all five of them confused by Sha’re’s actions and by their own reactions as well.

Daniel thinks he understands--it takes more than two weeks of freedom to overcome the habits of a lifetime of fear.

(Unless you are Sha’re, but then, Daniel does not think he has seen her frightened yet.  It is part of what drew his attention when he very first saw her, water ladle in hand and nothing but intelligent curiosity in her gaze.)

“It is all right,” Daniel reassures them.  “Ra’s rules are over, you can celebrate these things for yourself, now.”  His Abydonian is still awkward, his word choice far from fluid, and he runs dusty hands through his hair as he tries to find the right way to explain and encourage.  Not for the first time, he wishes Colonel O’Neill had stuck around.  Taciturn he might have been, but he had a way of getting to the point and an air of competence that would have been useful in rebuilding a culture.

Lacking Jack’s natural authority, Daniel does what he usually does, and relies on a veritable sandstorm of words.

“You tell stories already, yes?  Around the fires and over meals and while travelling to the other camps.  Stories about the gods, of course, but also about the deeds of your ancestors, great and foolish.”

The boys begin to nod.

“Do these stories stay the same?”

One of the boys, Daniel is pretty sure his name is Ahmose, pipes up.  “No, the teller and the story can change together.  Sometimes it is three mastadges, sometimes it is thirty.”

The others laugh and Daniel can only assume this is a reference to a story and particular community member they all know.  At least it seems to support his point.

“And when it is a funny story, the details changing do not matter so much, right?”

A chorus of nods.

“But think of what happened here, when you stood against Ra.  If one story teller said Ra had thirty guards, and one said he had three hundred, how would that change the story?”

“But everyone knows how many there were that stood for Ra and how many of us stood against him!” That is one of the quieter ones, Djedefre.  Daniel has always liked that name --’enduring like Ra.’  He likes almost all of the names a lot less now that he’s actually met Ra, but it doesn’t change the fact that the boy bearing the name is still likeable enough.  Senbi and Wosret aren’t bad either, and they’re smart enough to stay out of the conversation so far.

“Everyone knows now, yes,” Daniel agrees.  “But when you have children, and are telling them the story, and then they have children, and tell them the story, will the memories of the tellers still be perfect, if they did not see it happen?”

The boys are frowning now.  Skaara leans in with a knowing look.

“So you draw the stories on the walls so we will not forget.”

Daniel smiles.  “So *you* draw, and write, the stories on the walls, so that you will be remembered by your children’s children’s children and more.”

Wosret is still frowning, though Daniel sees the light come on behind Djedefre’s and Senbi’s eyes.  “But Sha’re, she knows only part of the story.  When she was with you, other things were happening, with us.”

Daniel nods.  “Which is why it is important to remember that you are free.  A story happens to many people, so many voices can tell it from their own points of view.  Writing down the facts is only part of the story.  How you felt, what you dream, what you hope for in this new life we all build together--that is the story you tell.  To make it visible, through writing, through art--that is your choice.”

Skaara grins, bright and blinding like the light beaming in from the outside.  “I understand, Danyel.”  He points at the long, tall corridor wall, easily one of the largest surface areas in the parts of the temple Daniel’s had time to explore.  “I will take that wall for my story.”

Daniel laughs and tosses him a stick of charcoal, and like that, another one of Ra’s shadows seems to lift away.  His pile of sullen boys transforms into a chattering, hooting, laughing flock of elbows and knees and catcalls as they race each other to the wall to begin.  Daniel stands up, brushes the sand off his robes, and goes around the corner to his wife.

“Their heads will be higher than palm trees by mid-morning,” she reproves him gently, but smiles and passes him a paintbrush.


End file.
